52 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. IV. 
less to add that the thing is ten times more ridiculous 
than it was before. 
Almost all the natives who came in contact with the 
English understood a little of their language ; and as they 
had also a smattering of Portuguese, Malay, and Ben- 
^ ,- ^ galese, they soon mixed them up all together, and drew 
, jii, out of the whole a new tongue, which the most accom- 
plished linguist would have very great difficulty in 
analysing. And what is most amusing, they fancied all 
the time that this was capital English. 
The way in which the Chinese classed the foreigners 
on the island was somewhat droll. There were three 
degrees of rank which they generally bestowed upon 
them, — Mandarins, or, as they pronounced it, Mom- 
dalees, Sien-sangs, and A-says. In the first class they 
included all persons of rank holding government situa- 
tions, as well as the officers of the army and navy ; the 
higher being styled " Bulla Bulla Mandalees,'' and the 
lower " Chotta Chotta Mandalees," corruptions of Hin- 
dostan words, signifying very large and very small The 
merchants were honoured with the title of Sien-saTig ; 
and the common soldiers, sailors, and the rest of the 
lower orders, were all classed under the head of A-says. 
The word Mandarin is not Chinese, but has always been 
used by the Portuguese at Macao, as well as by the 
(4^ I English, to denote a Chinese government officer; Sien- 
1^ h sang is a Chinese term, and signifies master or teacher, 
^ ' t being generally used by the people as a title of respect, 
*' in the same way as we commonly use our word Sir : but 
A-say is quite a new appellation. "I say," or "Ay 
" say,'' is a very common expression amongst our soldiers 
